Meet the Leaders
Kristin Ostby de Barillas
President and CEO of Boys Hope Girls Hope
Kristin Ostby de Barillas has committed her life to creating inclusive communities and opportunities for people who are battling poverty and disenfranchisement. She has a BA in Political Science from Carleton College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Prior to her work with Boys Hope Girls Hope, Kristin was on the Senior Leadership Team at Glide Memorial Church and Foundation, San Francisco’s largest social service agency. In this role, she worked with civil rights leaders Rev. Cecil Williams and the late Janice Mirikitani for five years and created a program to train faith-based organizations in the US and South Africa on how to build diverse communities and empower people living in poverty.
In 2005, Boys Hope Girls Hope hired Kristin to oversee the growth of affiliates in Latin America. Under her leadership as Vice President of International Development, Boys Hope Girls Hope of Guatemala grew from serving 29 to nearly 200 youth. Kristin also was instrumental in opening the Boys Hope Girls Hope affiliate in Mexico in 2008, which serves over 200 young people.
Kristin was promoted to President and CEO of Boys Hope Girls Hope in 2017. In this role, she leads the vision, strategy, planning, and execution to achieve the mission of the organization across 15 affiliates in the US and Latin America. Kristin is leading a major initiative at Boys Hope Girls Hope to triple the number of young people Boys Hope Girls Hope serves by 2035. As a passionate advocate for diversity, she has presided over dramatic increases in representation on Boys Hope Girls Hope boards and teams.
Carleton College presented the Distinguished Alumni Award to Kristin in 2023. She was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers and Ford Foundation research fellow during her college years. She has been a mentor for the same wonderful young woman since 1998. She serves on the Antigua International School Founders Board in Antigua, Guatemala. Kristin, her husband, Benito and sons, Oscar and William, have lived in Palo Alto, California since 2021. They were based in Antigua, Guatemala from 2005 to 2021.
Kristin at Boys Hope Girls Hope of Guatemala (Esperanza Juvenil) visiting with scholars.
Michelle Sakach
Chief Financial Officer
Michelle oversees everything related to finance and accounting, operations, and information technology and works with affiliates to ensure fidelity in these areas.
As a licensed CPA in the state of Illinois, she has over two decades of experience in managing large-scale fiscal operations. Michelle was partner and CFO at a management consulting and accounting firm for the healthcare industry in central Illinois for 20 years. She also worked as CFO at an organization that specializes in residential facilities for the underserved and as controller for a midwestern educational organization.
She holds a double major in Accounting and Business Management from the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Michelle has two grown daughters and two puppies and enjoys spending her free time with them and traveling in her RV camper around the country.
Brian Hipp
Vice President of Mission Effectiveness
Brian oversees Network-wide training, program execution/evaluation, and continuous quality improvement. He’s worked extensively with rural Latino communities and mentoring African-American youth. His education includes a psychology degree from The College of Santa Fe and an MSW from Saint Louis University. He is a certified trainer in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention and a credentialed Trust Based Relational Intervention practitioner. He’s been with Boys Hope Girls Hope for more than two decades, first as a program director and then as Executive Director for Boys Hope Girls Hope of St. Louis before bringing his leadership skills to Network Headquarters to support all affiliates.
William Fronczak
Vice President, Advancement
Bill is a Saint Louis University honors graduate with a communication degree and three decades experience in advancement. At Boys Hope Girls Hope, he leads the development and marketing/communications team with more than 50 years of experience combined in nonprofit fundraising, relationship cultivation, partnership building, and digital and print media. During his tenure, we’ve grown our fundraising significantly by diversifying our donor base. Active in the community, Bill is a graduate of the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative fellowship and has been honored by the St. Louis American newspaper.
Melanie Burden
Vice President of People and Culture
Mel has spent over two decades elevating organizational missions through the management of their most valuable asset – people. She holds a BA in economics and an MA in labor and employment relations from the University of Cincinnati, and an MS in leadership and organizational change from Northern Kentucky University. Her specialty is creating and implementing fiscally responsible strategies to attract, train, and develop the most qualified and diverse employees in a manner that strengthens organizations through inclusion, equity, and staff retention. Mel and her spouse, a retired U.S. Army veteran, are active African American leaders in their community.
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN PROVIDE HOPE
Working to nurture and guide motivated
young people in need to become well-educated,
career-ready men and women for others
